Melt Festival 2013 Review

As one of the main party-capitals in Europe, Berlin has many possibilities for everybody who wants to get mad for a couple of days. Clubs like Berghain, Kater Holzig and About Blank stay open for several days in a row and offer great dj’s. Off course you can also decide to combine your trip to Berlin with one of the weekendfestivals outside of Berlin. After I have been to the 16th edition of the Melt Festival last weekend, I would surely advice everybody to atleast visit this festival once in your life.

Ferropolis

Since 1997, the annual Melt Festival offers a great weekendfestival for party-lovers from all over the world. Besides the first two editions, all Melt Festivals have been organized at the Ferropolis in the small town of Gräfenhainichen. The Ferropolis used to be a coal surface mine and (partly) therefore it is one of the coolest festival-locations in Germany. The festivalterrain is totally surrounded by water which gives the visitors the possibility to go for a refreshing swim. Besides that, the old but massive caterpillars give the Ferropolis a very unique image.

Big Wheel Stage and Sleepless Floor

The acts at Melt Festival 2013 were divided over not less than seven different stages. All stages represented different music-styles and they were all located in walking distance from eachother. For example: Some famous dj’s were performing on the Big Wheel Stage and most of the bands were playing at the Main Stage. Starting on Saturday morning you could also party at the Sleepless Floor, which was located outside of the festivalterrain of Melt. The name already gives you the right impression: On the Sleepless Floor you could party day and night. A big advantage of this floor was, that you could bring your own liquor to the dancefloor because it was just before the entrance of the “real” festivalterrain.

The Big Wheel Stage at the Melt Festival

The Melt-Campsite

The tickets for Melt Festival 2013 were priced at 136 Euro and gave you permission to sleep at the Melt-campsite for four nights. You will probably visit the Melt Festival to dance your ass off at some of the great acts, but it is always nice to know that you can also have loads of fun at the Melt-campsite. From the campsite it will take you about half an hour to walk to the festivalterrain of Melt but if you are not in the mood to walk you can also decide to take the free shuttlebus.

The Melt-campsite

Food and drinks

On and around the campsite you can find enough places to buy your food and drinks. When you are sober enough during the day, you can decide to make a short drive to the nearest supermarket but also on the festivalterrain you can buy a great range of products. Obviously the prices at Melt are a bit higher than in Berlin, but in my opinion everything is still very reasonable. A beer costs 4 euro (0,4 liter Warsteiner) and food can be bought for a prices between 3 and 6 euro (some examples: Burrito’s 5€, Falafel 4€, Noodles 5€).

Oliver Koletzki, Miss Kittin and Alt-J

The Melt Festival 2013 was officially opened thursdaynight at 19.00 at the Pre-Party in the so called Into Zelt. Because you needed an extra ticket for this pre-party (5€) most people probably entered the festivalterrain on Friday for the first time. At 17.00 Oliver Koletzki performed at the Big Wheel Stage and my festival could not have started any better. Besides Koletzki, the Melt Festival offered a great range of artists in a lot of different music-styles: With names like Solomun, Miss Kittin, Alt-J, Disclosure, Wankelmut, AndHim and many more the Melt Festival is defenitly worth every penny you will spend on it.

The Sleepless Floor in front of the Melt entrance

Tips for an even better Melt Festival

If you are planning to visit Melt Festival 2014, the following tips might be useful to make your festival even better.

Campsite: Try to find a spot on Campsite number 1. Your tent will be further from your car but the trip to the festivalterrain will be about 1km shorter than from campsite 3.

Don´t take more than you need: Especially when you visit a weekendfestival for the first time you will probably take way to much luggage. As mentioned above, there are supermarkets on a reasonable distance and when you visit Melt with a group you are able to share a lot of things.

Watch out for thieves: Unfortunately there are uncool people everywhere in the world and also at the Melt Festival. So I would not recognize taking your 500€ camera or any other valuables to the Melt Festival (or any other festival).

Connect with your neighbours: You might be able to prevent theft on the campsite when you become friends with your neighbours. Hopefully they will be nice enough to stop a stranger from entering your tent.

Disposable Camera: It is awesome to bring a 5€ disposable camera to any festival and get the photos developed when you get back home. No risks and a lot of fun when you get back home.

Bring juice: It is allowed to take juice and other drinks in 1,5 literpackages onto the festivalterrain. Use this in your advantage.

The Melt Festival is located directly at the water (Melt Selektor Stage)

More information

More information, photos, video’s and the line-up of the 2013 edition can be found on the website of the Melt Festival. Below you can find an impression of my personal Melt Festival and two of my highlights which I recorded: Oliver Koletzki and AndHim.

My Name is Job and originally from the Netherlands. In 2012, a girl I met in Australia motivated me to move to Berlin. I love to share the best places, activities and events in Berlin with you on my blog.

2 Comments

Nice review you wrote there, but you have to correct one thing and it’s not the end of the world 😉
The Melt Festival is located directly at the water (Gemini Stage) +++ It’s the Desperados Beach and the Melt! Selektor Stage pres. by Modeselektor.

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“Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans.”

John Lennon was right: Life doesn't always turn out the way you expected. My name is Job, born in Holland but living in Berlin since two years now. I enjoy this city every single day and want so share my passion on this travelblog...(read more)

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